History, it seems, is about to repeat itself for Apple in the courtroom.

Several months ago, MMi covered the decision handed down by the presiding judge in Apple's legal showdown with Samsung. You may recall that the court ordered the respective company chiefs at Apple and Samsung to speak in hopes of expediting an amicable resolution to the increasingly acrimonious legal skirmish facilitated by the warring tech giants.

Well, we all know how well that turned out. But despite the lack of resolution coming from those talks, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte isn't abandoning hope for the good that can come from open communication between legal combatants. And for that reason, Judge Laporte is ordering Amazon to hold settlement talks with Amazon regarding the fair usage of the term "app store."

That's right, we're still talking about this.

Apple is seeking a court order to block Amazon from using the term Appstore in its service to sell software for devices running Google Inc.ís Android operating system. Apple alleges the online retailer infringes its trademark and violates unfair competition laws.

As it presently stands, Judge Laporte is directing the companies to "confer" on March 21st. At that time, Apple and Amazon are expected to bring their top legal eagles to the meeting and work toward hashing out a mutually-agreeable settlement. A trial remains scheduled for August should a resolution fail to happen before then.

Make the prosecuting CEO appear at all hearings, that should cut down some lawsuits... Add a stipulation the person must have the highest earnings (from pay and stock options etc), so corporation do not hire a puppet with CEO title that has no power just to sit in these court hearings.